Welcome to the desert of the real.
And unfortunately we’re just getting started.
I suspect none of you have been through anything quite like what we’re going through now. It feels a bit like 9/11, but really things shut down completely for about a week, then slowly returned to normal. This is going to last longer than a week.
Here is my coronavirus story. I attended a concert in Portland, Ore., on Wednesday night. Portland has had a few positive cases, but not many, so I didn’t feel too weird about it. I was afraid they were going to cancel the show. People at the show were jokingly touching elbows, but it was a nervous kind of joking.
At the end of the show, singer Maynard James Keenan said, “stay safe, stay healthy and stop [bleeping] hoarding toilet paper.” The audience laughed. Maybe a bit nervously.
Sure enough, minutes after the show finished, the state of Oregon announced all major public gatherings were banned. No more concerts, no more Portland Trailblazers for the foreseeable future. The next morning on the news, they announced the NCAA Tournament had been canceled.
Somber day
I was going to try and attend the NWAC Tournament in Oregon City and cover the Peninsula College game. I had heard it was closed to the public, but my gut told me it was going to be canceled. So, I canceled my hotel reservation and headed back home. It was kind of a somber drive north. That afternoon, they announced the NBA, the NHL and the MLS were all shut down. Spring training was shut down. Prep sports came next to be put on hold.
It’s changing everything. I went to a restaurant that night and they were talking about shutting down at 6 p.m. and sending people home if people didn’t show up from the Coho. A few people came in and they stayed open for a couple more hours.
One huge change I’ve noticed is I don’t see many people on social media calling this a hoax or saying it’s being blown out of proportion anymore. Italy had 170 deaths from COVID-19 … in one day. They literally put the entire nation on quarantine. Some “hoax.” Those people are probably the ones most guilty of hoarding toilet paper now.
Things got real. Fast. I’m sure we’re all feeling that way.
There’s been pandemics before, but I don’t think any of us have ever been through anything quite like this. The swine flu didn’t shut down modern society. We’re in uncharted waters. I predict we probably aren’t too far behind the Italians in shutting everything down.
Personally, I’m healthy and not in the high-risk population. But I sure worry about family members with cancer and COPD. They are at extreme risk. We probably all have people we’re worrying about.
It’s a shame to see the local sports shut down for a while, but it has to be done.
It means no hockey or Mariners on TV for a few weeks (hopefully not longer than that, but you have to prepare for the worst). There’s tons of good shows on Netflix and HBO that I’m catching up on. I had forgotten all about these things called … books? … that I mostly only have time to read anymore when I’m on vacation.
And thank goodness Doom Eternal is coming out next week. That will be sure to occupy time that would have spent watching hockey.
I’m not quite ready to completely give up on going down to the brewpub once or twice a week, but the realization is sinking in that all bars and restaurants may be closed soon.
We will do our best to keep our readers updated on the coronavirus. And expect to see expanded outdoors coverage in the Peninsula Daily News sports coverage. They haven’t closed the outdoors yet. I’ve always been a bit of a weather wimp about getting out in the woods, but it looks like I will be braving the rain more than usual this spring.
We all have to adjust and take some common sense measures. I’ve become completely OCD about constantly washing my hands. We all should. Use hand sanitizer, don’t panic, stop hoarding TP (Seriously, people, knock that off). Stop shaking hands. Don’t listen to wild rumors on social media. This is real. But so is our ability to adjust to a new reality.
